Concerns over Vermaelen injury as Gunners progress

Wednesday 26 October 2011 06:42 BST

Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen will be assessed today after coming off with a calf problem towards the end of the Carling Cup defeat of Bolton.

The Belgium international started last night's 2-1 fourth round win after two months out with an Achilles injury, playing 84 minutes at the Emirates Stadium before being replaced by debutant Daniel Boateng.

Wenger revealed Vermaelen requested to be taken off after a problem in his calf and, while not overly concerned about the seriousness of the injury, expects him to be short of fitness for this weekend's Barclays Premier League clash with Chelsea.

"He did very well but he had to come off for a calf problem," Wenger said.

"I hope it is not too bad. He will be a bit short for Saturday. I do not know yet what has happened.

"We will have to test him tomorrow (Wednesday) but it did not look too bad. He has been out for a long time and only had one training session yesterday with the team.

"I didn't expect a game of that intensity because it was a really tough game for a centre-back tonight as they (Bolton) put us under pressure in the second half."

He added: "I don't think it is a calf strain, I think it is just a tight calf because he has not played 90 minutes for three months.

"He wanted to come off. In fairness, I did not want to take him off because I thought it was stupid with four minutes to go in case we conceded a goal. He was adamant he could not go on so I hope it is not too bad."

While Arsenal secured progression to the quarter finals, they had to withstand a barrage of Bolton pressure to hold out for victory.

Trotters manager Owen Coyle felt disappointed with the result but was proud of his side's effort in north London.

"Arsenal scored two goals from their two shots on target," he said.

"They never had another shot on target. We scored a very good goal to put us in front and looked to be the team in the ascendancy.

"Then, from my end, the disappointing thing is as good as Arsenal's finishes were, they could have been avoided. I thought (Andrey) Arshavin should have been closed down and we paid a heavy cost for that.

"Then we gave the ball away cheaply and got punished by (Chu-Young) Park with a sublime finish. From that moment on it was waves of attacks and not just that, but clear goalscoring opportunities.

"We should have buried them, we never did and now we're out of the cup because of it."

Former Gunner Fabrice Muamba had given Bolton the lead, before Arshavin and Park swung the tie Arsenal's way.